Battle against expropriation heads overseas

The Transvaal Agricultural Union has upped the ante in its fight against the expropriation of land without compensation, says a Cape Argus report. It last week announced its #SOS-campaign, which is aimed at urging foreign countries to take a stand against expropriation of land without compensation. This forms part of its ‘fightback’ campaign, which includes an international campaign against changing the Constitution to allow for land expropriation without compensation. The union’s president Louis Meintjes said the ANC had, in the run-up to the elections, made many promises regarding land expropriation to win votes. He said supporters of changing the Constitution for expropriation of land without compensation were now waiting impatiently to see how the government would implement the exercise. ‘With this campaign we will send a distress signal to foreign countries, asking them to take a stand and warn the SA Government not to proceed with this short-sighted plan,’ Meintjes said. ANC national executive committee member Ronald Lamola said the land reform programme was done through the rule of law. ‘We are following constitutional, defined procedures to address the imbalances of the past on land ownership in SA,’ Lamola is quoted as saying.